Concise communication of real-time business information in an enterprise network

ABSTRACT

A method, system, computer program product, and related business methods for concisely communicating real-time business information to end users in an enterprise network is described. An integrated business system having at least ERP and CRM functionality is accessed via a browser-based user interface. A plurality of portlet windows are simultaneously displayed within a browser window, each portlet window occupying a relatively small area therein. The portlet windows are selected and arranged according to a customizable user profile for each user, and include reporting portlets displaying up-to-date business results retrieved from the integrated business system. Each reporting portlet further comprises report access links associated with at least one of the business results that, when selected by the user, invoke browser-based displays of up-to-date business data underlying those business results. Preferably, in accordance with a user-customizable alert setting stored in the user profile, regular electronic mail messages are sent to the user communicating up-to-date versions of those business results. Preferably, data labels that identify business items within the browser-based user interface and on the electronic mails are expressed in a business vernacular tuned to each user according to customizable business vernacular settings in their user profiles.

FIELD

This patent specification relates to business management software andsystems. More particularly, this patent specification relates to amethod, system, computer program product, and related business methodsfor concise communication of real-time business information to end usersin an enterprise network.

BACKGROUND

The ability of business users to access crucial business information hasbeen greatly enhanced by the proliferation of IP-based networkingtogether with advances in object oriented Web-based programming andbrowser technology. Using these advancements, systems have beendeveloped that permit web-based access to business information systems,thereby allowing any user with a browser and an Internet or intranetconnection to view, enter, or modify the required business information.

On a roughly similar timeline, substantial efforts have been directed toEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that integrate thecapabilities of several historically separate business computing systemsinto a common system, with a view toward streamlining business processesand increasing efficiencies on a business-wide level. By way of example,the capabilities or modules of an ERP system can include: accounting,order processing, time and billing, inventory management, employeemanagement/payroll, and employee calendaring and collaboration, as wellas reporting and analysis capabilities relating to these functions.

In a related movement, substantial efforts have also been directed tointegrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, with a viewtoward obtaining a better understanding of customers, enhancing serviceto existing customers, and acquiring new, profitable customers. By wayof example, the capabilities or modules of a CRM system can include:sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation, contact list, callcenter support, and web-based customer support, as well as reporting andanalysis capabilities relating to these functions. With differing levelsof overlap with ERP/CRM initiatives and with each other, substantialefforts have also been directed toward development of increasinglyintegrated partner and vendor management systems, web store/e-commercesystems, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, and Supply ChainManagement (SCM) systems.

As known in the art, both functional advantages and strategic advantagesare gained through a the use of an integrated business system comprisingERP, CRM and other business capabilities, particularly where theintegrated business system offers a thin-client, browser-based userinterface. Functionally, for example, a remote sales person can enter asales transaction into their browser-based interface reflecting thesuccessful sale of an item, whereupon the integrated business system cannot only update accounts receivable, inventory databases, and otherERP-based systems, but can also automatically update commissionschedules, strategic customer information databases, and other CRM-basedsystems. The integrated business system can also send a trigger, forexample, for a vendor to send more inventory to replace sold items, andcan send a corresponding message to the company warehouse to expect theincoming shipment. Strategically, integrated reporting capabilities ofthe above systems allow executives and managers to view currentinformation from virtually any location, the information ranging fromlists of the top performing sales people and the most lucrativecustomers to inventory levels and available warehouse space, so thattimely changes or adjustments can be made to optimize performance acrossthe enterprise.

Generally speaking, business software industry analysts expect thatefforts toward the integration of the above systems will continue, withthe goal of allowing clients to optimize the acquisition, dissemination,and use of business knowledge across enterprise functions. From an ERPperspective, AMR Research predicts that “ERP vendors will soon derivemost of their revenues from adding customer relationship management(CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and product lifecycle management(PLM) capabilities.” CIO.com, “Executive Summaries: Enterprise ResourcePlanning,” CXO Media, Inc. (Aug. 22, 2002). From a CRM perspective,Patricia Seybold Group characterizes a so-called “fourth wave” of CRMdevelopment as follows: “Fourth-wave solutions also begin to tietogether customer self-service via the Web with customer service throughthe contact center. Customers can now begin an interaction online andthen pick up the phone and have some hope that the call center rep willbe able to see their Web interaction and help them complete thetransaction. In this fourth wave, most CRM buyers are also scrambling totightly integrate their CRM systems with their ERP and other back-endoperational systems . . . . Every ERP supplier is now also a CRMsupplier.” Patricia Seybold Group, “An Executive's Guide to CRM: How toEvaluate CRM Alternatives by Functionality, Architecture, & Analytics”(2002).

However, with respect to individual end users, problems can arise asintegrated business systems grow ever more powerful andcross-functional. A first problem relates generally to an “informationbottleneck” that can occur directly at the user interface of the system.Even if all of the internal bottlenecks of a business information systemhave been resolved, with information flowing freely and effortlesslyamong different system modules and enterprise databases, theincreasingly large body of available business information has littleutility to end users if they cannot efficiently perceive that businessinformation. A related problem is that of “information overload” thatcan result from the wide array of information and capabilities offeredto end users, especially business executives. In one scenario, executiveusers may find an integrated business system to be so “intimidating” asto avoid adopting the system altogether. In another scenario, evensophisticated users may avoid adopting or fully using the integratedbusiness system if access to the information is considered to be awkwardor unnecessarily time-consuming.

Another problem that arises with the introduction of more powerful,centralized business information systems relates to businessnomenclatures. In particular, depending on the particular industry inquestion, different business functions within an enterprise may havebeen using different names to refer to the same business item orcategory. By way of example, sales people might prefer to use the term“quote” while accounting people might prefer to use the term “estimate.”This difference may have historically presented no problem where theERP/accounting systems were distinct from the CRM/SFA systems. However,the new introduction of an integrated ERP/CRM business system mightforce an enterprise-wide choice between competing terminology sets,leaving at least some of the users with undesired or unfamiliarterminology in the user interface. Geographic differences may alsoaccount for different terminology sets within the same businessfunction, e.g., “accounts receivable” and “accounts payable” may bepreferred in one location while “debtors” and “creditors” is preferredin another location.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an integrated businessinformation system that facilitates efficient user perception ofreal-time business information.

It would be further desirable to provide a user interface to anintegrated business information system that allows business executivesto perceive overviews of key business performance metrics in a singleglance.

It would be still further desirable to provide such a user interfacethat also permits rapid drill-down access to data underlying theoverviews of the key business performance metrics.

It would be still further desirable to provide such a user interfacethat offers other pathways to efficient dissemination and perception ofthe key business information.

It would be even further desirable to provide an integrated businessinformation system that integrates functional, geographic, demographic,or other nomenclature differences therein while still retaining theoriginal advantages of business system integration.

SUMMARY

A method, system, computer program product, and related business methodsare provided for concisely communicating real-time business informationto end users in an enterprise network. In one preferred embodiment, anintegrated business system having at least ERP and CRM functionality isprovided in conjunction with a browser-based user interface, thebrowser-based user interface displaying a plurality of portlet windowswithin a browser window, each portlet window occupying a relativelysmall area within the browser window. The plurality of portlet windowsare selected and arranged according to a customizable user profile foreach user, and include reporting portlets displaying up-to-date businessresults retrieved from the integrated business system. Each reportingportlet further comprises report access links associated with at leastone of the business results being displayed. When selected by the user,each report access link invokes a browser-based display of up-to-datebusiness data underlying that business result, thereby allowingimmediate drill-down capability into that business result. Preferably,in accordance with a user-customizable alert setting stored in the userprofile, the integrated business system transmits electronic mailmessages to the user containing the up-to-date business results thatwould be displayed by the reporting portlets at the time the electronicmail message is sent. Preferably, data labels within the browser-baseduser interface and on the electronic mails that identify business itemsare expressed in a business vernacular tuned to that user according tocustomizable vernacular settings in their user profile.

In one preferred embodiment, the integrated business system is hosted bya third party application service provided (ASP) separate from anyfacilities of the business enterprise and accessed by users over theInternet. In one preferred embodiment, the browser window containing theselection and arrangement of portlets is displayed any time a home-pageor “dashboard” link is selected by the user, and the business resultstherein are refreshed upon said selection via query to the integratedbusiness information system. In an alternative preferred embodiment, thebusiness results are updated at regular time intervals according to asetting in the user profile. In still another preferred embodiment,portlets are updated on an individual basis depending on the nature oftheir contents, and/or upon mouse rollover or other individual event.Preferably, the ERP capabilities or modules of the integrated businesssystem include accounting, order processing, time and billing, inventorymanagement, employee management/payroll, and employeecalendaring/collaboration. Preferably, the CRM capabilities or modulesof the integrated business system include sales force automation (SFA),marketing automation, contact list, call center support, and web-basedcustomer support. In another preferred embodiment, the integratedbusiness system further comprises an integrated partner/vendormanagement module, a web store/c-commerce module, a PLM module, and/oran SCM module.

According to a preferred embodiment, the plurality of portlet windowsfurther comprises one or more application portlets comprising at leastone application access link that, when selected by the user, invokes abrowser-based interactive session with an ERP and/or CRM module of theintegrated business system. The plurality of portlets further comprisesa continuing search results portlet displaying results associated with acontinuing search request, and a user interface management portletcomprising at least one customization access link that, when selected bythe user, invokes a browser-based interactive session a customizationmodule that acquires various user preferences from the user and assignsthem to the user profile. Preferably, a predefined role relevant to thebusiness enterprise is assigned to each user, such as CEO, salesmanager, accountant, etc. For each predefined role there is a defaultuser profile containing settings, permissions, and other preferencespre-customized for that role. Included in the default user profile areportlet selection and arrangement settings, business metric selections,e-mail alert settings, and default vernacular settings pre-customized tothat role by a vendor of the integrated business system. With thegeneral exception of permission settings, many of the defaultpreferences are further customizable by the user.

In one preferred embodiment, the e-mail alert settings may be adjustedby the user to select a preference between receivinggraphically-expressed business result metrics in their electronic mailmessages versus receiving text-only e-mail messages. When graphicallyreceived, the electronic mail message is formed from a markup languageso as to emulate the appearance and arrangement of the browser window ofthe user interface. When received in text-only format, the electronicmail message places the text in a sequence dictated by the user'sarrangement of portlet windows in the browser window of the userinterface. Business metrics exceeding predefined thresholds may behighlighted in the browser-based user interface portlets and/or theelectronic mail messages according to user preferences.

In another preferred embodiment, each user is associated with one of aplurality of predefined business vernacular groups for the businessenterprise. Each business vernacular group is associated with aterminology map that provides, for each of a set of static businessterms fixedly identifying a respective set of business information itemsmaintained by the integrated business system, a vernacular equivalentterms tuned for that business vernacular group. When displaying ore-mailing business data to that user, the terminology of that user'sbusiness vernacular group is substituted for the static business terms,thereby making a greater number of users comfortable with their userinterface into the integrated business system. Preferably, defaults areprovided to users based on pre-assigned roles within the enterprise. Inother preferred embodiments, customized vernacular terminology maps maybe provided based on geography, demographic group, or any of a varietyof other groupings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a computer network includingan enterprise network and an integrated business system according to apreferred embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates steps for concise communication of businessinformation to an end user according to a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a home page/dashboard of aninteractive browser-based user interface according to a preferredembodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates an arrangement of portlet windows associated with theinteractive browser-based interface of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates an electronic mail message transmitted from anintegrated business system to an end user according to a preferredembodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates the portlet windows of FIG. 4 as rearranged by theuser according to a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates an electronic mail message corresponding to therearranged portlet windows of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates portlet windows displaying the same businessinformation using data labels having different business vernacularterms, and a corresponding portion of an electronic mail messagetransmitted according to a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a conceptual example of a terminology map accordingto a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates a home page/dashboard display of an interactivebrowser-based user interface according to a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 11 illustrates business data underlying a business result displayedin a result portlet of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 illustrates a search parameter entry screen associated with asaved search portlet of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 illustrates a user profile customization screen including asaved search selection screen associated with the saved search portletof FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 illustrates a transaction page of an interactive browser-baseduser interface to an integrated business system according to a preferredembodiment;

FIG. 15 illustrates a transaction page for a different end user than thetransaction page of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 illustrates a lists page of an interactive browser-based userinterface to an integrated business system according to a preferredembodiment;

FIG. 17 illustrates a reports page of an interactive browser-based userinterface to an integrated business system according to a preferredembodiment;

FIG. 18 illustrates the reports page of FIG. 17 as a user is invoking amultilevel pull-down menu;

FIG. 19 illustrates a user profile customization page including aportlet customization page according to a preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 20 illustrates a reporting portlet corresponding to entriesdisplayed in the portlet customization page of FIG. 19.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a network 100 including anintegrated business system 102 and an enterprise network 104 inaccordance with a preferred embodiment. Enterprise network 104 isassociated generally with a business enterprise that may be as small asa single-employee sole proprietorship or as large as a multinationalcorporation having many different facilities and internal networksspread across many continents. Alternatively, and in accordance with theadvantages of an application service provider (ASP) hosted integratedbusiness system, the business enterprise may comprise no dedicatedfacilities or business network at all, provided that its end users haveaccess to an internet browser and an internet connection. For simplicityand clarity of explanation, the enterprise network 104 is simplyrepresented by an on-site local area network 106 to which a plurality ofpersonal computers 108 is connected, each generally dedicated to aparticular end user although such dedication is not required, along withan exemplary remote user computer 110 that can be, for example, a laptopcomputer of a traveling employee having internet access through a hotel,coffee shop, a public Wi-Fi access point, or other internet accessmodality. The end users associated with computers 108 and 110 may alsoeach possess a personal digital assistant (PDA) such as a Blackberry,Palm, Handspring, or other PDA unit having wireless internet accessand/or cradle-based synchronization capabilities. Users of theenterprise network 104 interface with the integrated business system 102across the Internet 112.

Integrated business system 102, which is preferably hosted by adedicated third party ASP, comprises an integrated business server 114and a web interface server 116 coupled as shown in FIG. 1. It is to beappreciated that either or both of the integrated business server 114and the web interface server 116 may actually be implemented on severaldifferent hardware systems and components even though represented assingular units in FIG. 1. Integrated business server 114 comprises anERP functionality as represented by FRP module 118, and furthercomprises a CRM functionality as represented by CRM module 120. It is tobe appreciated that identification herein of business functionalitieswith modules does not limit the scope of the preferred embodiments tosegregated units thereof. In many preferred embodiments the ERP module118 may share methods, libraries, databases, subroutines, variables,etc., with CRM module 120, and indeed ERP module 118 may be intertwinedwith CRM module 120 into a larger integrated code set without departingfrom the scope of the preferred embodiments.

It is to be appreciated that FIG. 1 is a simplified conceptualillustration presented so as to clearly describe the preferredembodiments herein. A variety of computing, storage, and networkinghardware associated with the enterprise network 104 and the integratedbusiness system 102, such as e-mail servers, databases, applicationservers, internet gateways, internal and external routers, securitydevices, internet service provider facilities, and related softwareprotocols and methods necessary for operation are known in the art andneed not be detailed here. Examples of such known computing, storage,and networking hardware can be found, for example, in US2002/0152399A1and US2002/0169797A1, which are incorporated by reference herein.

Similarly, in view of the present disclosure, a person skilled in theart would be able to construct software packages capable of achievingthe business data communication and presentation functionalitiesdescribed herein without undue experimentation, using publicly availableprogramming tools and software development platforms. It is preferred,however, to use programming tools and software development platformsthat are compatible with recent versions of Microsoft's InternetExplorer browser and/or AOL's Netscape Navigator that support stylesheets, scripting, JavaScript 1.5, and Dynamic HTML (DHTML). Generallyspeaking, the functionalities described herein are better achieved onthe newest-available browser platforms. Known programming techniquesthat can be used to achieve the functionalities described herein can befound, for example, in Ray, D. and Ray, E., Mastering HTML and XHTML,SYBEX, Inc. (2002), and in Goodman, D., JavaScript Bible: Gold Edition,Hungry Minds, Inc. (2001). Security considerations can also beaccommodated using known methods based, for example, on HTTPS (HypertextTransfer Protocol Secure), a secure version of HTTP using certificatesthat can uniquely identify the server and the client and that encryptall communication between them.

According to one preferred embodiment, the integrated business system102 is similar to one used by NetLedger, Inc. of San Mateo, Calif.providing the hosted business services NetSuite™, Oracle® Small BusinessSuite, NetCRM™, and NetLedger™ Advanced Accounting, descriptions ofwhich can be found at www.netledger.com. In a preferred embodimentsimilar to NetSuite™, the ERP module 118 comprises an accounting module,an order processing module, a time and billing module, an inventorymanagement module, an employee management and payroll module, acalendaring and collaboration module, a reporting and analysis module,and other ERP-related modules. The CRM module 120 comprises a salesforce automation (SFA) module, a marketing automation module, a contactlist module (not shown), a call center support module, a web-basedcustomer support module, a reporting and analysis module, and otherCRM-related modules. The integrated business server further 114 furtherprovides other business functionalities including a web store/e-commercemodule 122, a partner and vendor management module 124, and anintegrated reporting module 130. These functionalities are seamlesslyintegrated and executed by a single code base accessing one or moreintegrated databases as necessary. In another preferred embodiment, anSCM module 126 and PLM module 130 is provided. Web interface server 116is configured and adapted to interface with the integrated businessserver 114 to provide the web-based user interfaces with end users ofthe enterprise network 104.

In an alternative preferred embodiment (not shown), one or more of theabove business modules may be implemented by functionally separateservers and/or platforms that communicate with each other and with anintegration server (not shown) over a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet.Protocols that may be used to facilitate inter-server communicationsinclude smbXML and qbXML.

FIG. 2 illustrates steps for concise communication of businessinformation to an end user according to a preferred embodiment. At step202, the client company subscribes to an ASP-hosted integrated businessinformation system. At step 204, an administrator who is usually, be notrequired to be, an employee of the client company reviews and/ormodifies the default roles and the default user profiles for thoseroles. According to a preferred embodiment, the default roles arepreselected by the ASP system designers to appeal to a widest variety ofbusiness enterprise models while still having useful and specificdistinctions between the roles. When properly preselected by the ASPsystem designers, an optimally minor amount of company-basedcustomization and user-based customization is required. Administratorscan also add roles to the enterprise as needed, building upon and/orpicking and choosing from other predefined roles provided by the ASP. Inone preferred embodiment, it has been found that the following selectionof ASP-predefined roles provides good results: administrator; CEO;hands-on CEO; bookkeeper; marketing manager; sales manager; salesperson; support manager; support person; store manager; warehousemanager; and general employee.

At step 206, the administrator defines an end user by entering theirrelevant information, usually including at least an e-mail address and ajob title or department title, into the integrated business system. Theadministrator assigns at least one role to the end user relevant totheir position in the company. In the event that more than one role isassigned, the permissions and accesses of the end user are selected as alogical union of those for each role. For user preferences andvernacular settings, a primary role is selected at those settings areassigned to the user profile of the end user.

At step 208, the user logs onto the integrated business system 102 fromany thin-client computer having intranet or Internet access thereto. Theend user interacts with the integrated business system 102 according tosettings in the user profile that include portlet selection, portletarrangement, and business vernacular settings. If the end user desires achange in one or more of these settings (step 210), they can enter intoa customization page either using a tab/menu selection or an on-pagelink selection provided in a user customization portlet window, andchange their settings to the extent consistent with the user'spermissions (step 212).

If the user profile dictates that e-mail alerts are active (step 214),an electronic mail message is transmitted to the user (step 218)containing business information as described further infra if either (i)a predetermined interval has elapsed, or (ii) the end user has sent anaffirmative request to the integrated business system 102 for an e-mailalert (step 216). Steps 214-218 generally occur regardless of whetherthe end user is currently logged onto the system or not. The e-mails maybe in graphical form in a manner that emulates the layout within thebrowser window 302, or may be strictly text-based as determined by theuser profile. In an alternative preferred embodiment, the integratedbusiness system 102 restricts all electronic mail alerts to text-onlyformat, so as to ensure efficient delivery and receipt by almost alltypes of e-mail systems, PDA displays, and the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a home page/dashboard of aninteractive browser-based user interface according to a preferredembodiment as displayed in a browser window 302. The home page comprisesa plurality 306 of portlets and a plurality 304 of tabs pointing todifferent interactive windows/pages offered by the integrated businesssystem 102. Portlets 306 comprise: a calendar application portlet 308that windows and links to calendar module; a user customization portlet310 comprising at least one link to a user customization page; anannouncements portlet 312 displaying current company announcements orother information from postings on the company's intranet; reportingportlets 314, 316, and 322 described further infra; a saved searchesportlet 318 displaying up-to-date results for one or more saved searchrequests, including drill-down links to underlying data; a tasksapplication portlet 320 windowing and linking to a tasks module thatprovides appointment-making, reminding, and other known functionalities.

According to a preferred embodiment, the selection and arrangement ofthe portlets 306 is user-customizable. The portlet windows areinterchangeable in position, the user being able to give amore-prominently-viewed or less-prominently viewed spatial location toany particular portlet. In one particularly appealing preferredembodiment, the portlet windows may be shifted in real-time using aclick-and-drag technique. In another particularly appealing preferredembodiment, the portlet windows may be shrunken, expanded, reshaped(e.g., into a circle, triangle, or trapezoid with texts and fonts beingpreserved in shape and size but rearranged to fill out the portletarea), or even distorted (e.g., into a trapezoidal shape instead ofrectangular with the text itself being distorted) by clicking anddragging on corners thereof depending on the desires of the user. TheASP designer choices, however, for the default user profiles based oncompany roles are selected such that users who do not wish to customizetheir home page can still access their information in a substantiallyconvenient mariner.

FIG. 4 illustrates a selected close-up view of certain ones of theportlets 306 within the browser window 302 of FIG. 3, in particularfocusing on the reporting portlets 314, 316, and 322 and the taskapplication portlet 320. Each reporting portlet displays at least onebusiness result along with a link to data underlying that businessresult. It is to be appreciated that business results can comprisestatuses, intermediate results, etc., and are not required to beassociated with “end results” only. However, it is believed that bestuse of the system is achieved when the business results displayed arethose that are at a high enough level of abstraction to be readilyappreciated by the user in a single glance, while also being at a lowenough level of abstraction so as to be actionable by the user on eithera long term or a short term basis.

By way of example, result portlet 314 comprises a cashflow elementssnapshot listing key accounting metrics including accounts payable,accounts receivable, and past due invoice amounts at different amount oflateness. Result portlet 316 comprises a bar chart of customersatisfaction levels. Result portlet 322 comprises a text display ofcustomer satisfaction levels. Preferably, for each set of businessresults that is amenable to both graphical and textual formats, the useris permitted to choose the desired format in their user profile.According to the desires of the user, the particular business resultsbeing displayed in the results portlets may be selected frompredetermined “canned” reports configured by the ASP designers, or maybe custom, user-configured reports. As indicated in FIG. 4, businessresults that are beyond user-settable thresholds are displayed inhighlighted form (e.g., in bold type) to attract the end user'sattention.

In one preferred embodiment, the portlets and the business resultstherein are refreshed upon selection of any link thereon via query tothe integrated business information system 102. In an alternativepreferred embodiment, the business results are updated at regular timeintervals according to a setting in the user profile. In still anotherpreferred embodiment, portlets are updated on an individual basisdepending on the nature of their contents. By way of example, portletsshowing slowly-changing data (such as a search results portletidentifying new employees this month) are refreshed only once per houror upon a click of a link therein, while portlets showing fast-changingdata (such as orders taken, customer service call numbers, or thecompany's stock price) are refreshed once every thirty seconds. In stillanother preferred embodiment, mouse rollover of a portlet is used totrigger a refresh via query to the integrated business system 102. Thiscan include a small time threshold prior to refreshing, e.g., atwo-second delay, such that if the mouse cursor is being moved quicklyover a portlet window on its way to something else on the screen therewill be no refresh, but if the mouse cursor stays on a portlet for morethan that time threshold (indicating, for example, that the user isdwelling on that information) then the refresh is triggered. Pcr-portletrefreshing can be accomplished using known hidden IFRAME technology thatallows individual items on a web page to be updated without a full-pagerefresh cursor commit.

FIG. 5 illustrates a text-based electronic mail message 502 transmittedto the end user's e-mail account by the integrated business system 102.As indicated in FIG. 5, the text sections 504, 506, 508, and 510 aresequentially arranged according to the order of the correspondingportlet windows 314, 316, 320, and 322, respectively, within the browserwindow 302. It has been found that this ordering is particularlydesirable, especially where the sequential order of the text in theelectronic mail message 502 emulates a glancing pattern of the userviewing the browser window 302. As illustrated in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7,when the user changes the arrangements of the portlet windows within thebrowser window, the ordering of the text in the electronic mail messageis changed accordingly.

FIG. 8 illustrates portlet windows 314 and 802 taken from different userdisplays, the portlet window 314 being taken from a CEO display, theportlet window 802 taken from the display of a different role such assales manager. Notably, the portlets 314 and 802 are displaying the same“canned” report and therefore are displaying the same businessinformation. However, in accordance with a preferred embodiment, theportlet 802 substitutes the role-based desired business vernacular term“delinquencies” for the term “invoices past due.” Also shown in FIG. 8is a relevant section 804 of the electronic e-mail alert sent to thesales manager, also incorporating the desired business vernacular termfor that role.

FIG. 9 illustrates a conceptual example of a terminology map 902according to a preferred embodiment, comprising a set 904 of staticbusiness terms used by default throughout the integrated business system102, and further comprising role-based vernacular terms 906, 908, and910 for the CEO, sales manager, and accountant roles, respectively.Additional terminology tables (not shown) may be maintained for specificusers who wish to depart from the default vernacular settings associatedwith their primary role. In other preferred embodiments, customizedvernacular terminology maps may be provided based on geography,demographic group, or any of a variety of other groupings.

FIG. 10 illustrates a home page/dashboard display 1002 of an interactivebrowser-based user interface according to a preferred embodiment. Homepage 1002 includes a reporting portlet 1004 (“Snapshots”) comprisingbusiness results spanning both the ERP module 118 and CRM module 120 ofFIG. 1, supra. Home page 1002 further comprises a saved search resultsportlet 1006 (“My Saved Search—New Employees This Month”), a navigationassistance portlet (“Shortcuts”), a user customization portlet(“Settings”), a search application portlet (“Search by Type”), acalendar application portlet (“Calendar”), a tasks application portlet(“Tasks”), and business reporting portlets “Top 10 Customers” and “Top 5Sales Reps”. More generally, FIGS. 10-18 illustrate “screen dumps” takenfrom an ordinary internet browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0)logged into NetLedger, Inc.'s NetSuite™ product, supra, and convertedinto black-and-white drawings for filing herewith.

FIG. 11 illustrates business data underlying a business result displayedin a result portlet of FIG. 10, in particular displaying an A/P Registerpage 1102 that resulted from a single user click of the “Payables”result label/link shown in report portlet 1004 of FIG. 10. FIG. 12illustrates a search parameter entry screen 1202 associated with thesaved searches portlet 1006 of FIG. 10. FIG. 13 illustrates a userprofile customization screen 1302 having a saved search selection list(“Custom Search”) interfacing in a click-and-select manner.

FIG. 14 illustrates a transaction page 1402 of the interactivebrowser-based user interface, listing a variety of transaction linksavailable to the end user, who is identified thereon as having the CEOrole. FIG. 15 illustrates a transaction page 1502 for a different enduser (Administrator, see 1504), including a set of transaction links1506 that are not exposed to the CEO role. As indicated by FIG. 14 andFIG. 15, in accordance with default access permissions set by the ASPdesigners (and optionally changeable by the Administrator), end usersare usually shown a subset of available links to differingfunctionalities according to their role. As per the example of FIGS. 14and 15, it is generally not worthwhile (or perhaps even dangerous due totraining issues) to expose Inventory Adjustment functionalities to a CEOrole. Administrators will usually have access to all possible links, outof the technological necessity so all users need to be supported.

FIG. 16 illustrates a lists page 1602 of the interactive browser-baseduser interface for the CEO role. FIG. 17 illustrates a reports page 1702of the interactive browser-based for the CEO role.

FIG. 18 illustrates a reports page 1802 similar to the reports page 1702of FIG. 17, except that the user has invoked multilevel pull-down menus.According to a preferred embodiment, such multilevel pull-down menus areprovided that mirror the layout of the categories and links on theassociated page. Thus, for example, the reports page 1802 includesreport categories such as a Job/Time Tracking category 1804, which inturn comprise report links 1806. As indicated in FIG. 18, a firstpull-down menu 1808 is provided that lists the report categories in thesame order as they are laid out on the page, each member of which has asubmenu (e.g., submenu 1810 for the Job/Time Tracking member) listingthe associated report links. Preferably, the pull-down menus arerollover-activated as a default setting, although the user may changethis setting when they customize their user profile. Multilevelpull-down menus associated with each of the other page tabs (Home,Transactions, Links, etc.) can be invoked regardless of which particularpage is being displayed. Advantageously, the user can readily view allor substantially all of the available links from any of the pageswithout needing to “commit,” i.e., without needing to click on a linkand wait for a new web page to load. This enhances the user's ability toperceive the organization and capabilities of the integrated businesssystem.

FIG. 19 illustrates a user profile customization page including a reportportlet customization page 1902 according to a preferred embodiment. Theuser may select from a variety of “canned” business result metricsreports or custom business result metrics to be displayed, such as a“Sales” business result metric 1904 and a “Payables” business resultmetric 1906. Easy-to-use pull-down and value entries 1908 allow the userto enter desired threshold values above or below which trigger ahighlighted result. Check boxes and time point/period pull-down menus1910 allow for the easy input of those business result metrics for whichthe user would like to display past values for comparison.

FIG. 20 illustrates a reporting portlet 2002 corresponding to entriesdisplayed in the portlet customization page of FIG. 19. Thus, asindicated in FIGS. 19-20, the end users can not only set highlightthresholds, but can also set any business result metric for comparativedisplay, e.g., to display both this quarter's Sales and last quarter'sSales, or to display this Month's number of new leads next to LastMonth-to-Date's number of new leads. Users can compare the results ofany date range against any other date range. The two results appear nextto each other for easy comparison.

Although in some preferred embodiments the integrated business server iskept on-site at the business enterprise and managed by local informationtechnology personnel, there are several advantages to using a thirdparty ASP to host the integrated business system. One key advantage isreduced equipment costs, wherein the client company simply pays a fixedand/or usage-based monthly fee, with hardware expenditures being limitedessentially to thin-client systems and networking hardware. Otheradvantages include automatic and inherent system upgrading as providedby the ASP, the client always enjoying the newest version of theintegrated business system. This is especially useful in view of themany advances being made by browser vendors. Instead of waiting for theonsite IT department to eventually learn and harness newer browsercapabilities into the user interface, which could take months or years,a business enterprise using the third-party ASP to manage theirintegrated business system gains a business advantage in that that theASP's staff is usually on top of these browser advancements immediately,since they are intrinsically “in the business,” and can harness thenewer browser capabilities within weeks/months instead of months/years.Still other advantages include fast security updates, which may beespecially useful in view of the many traveling off-site users that manybusinesses have.

Among the advantages of a customizable, portlet-based user interfacewith result thresholding and highlighting according to the preferredembodiments is virtually immediate drill-down analysis capabilities intocrucial business performance metrics. For example, an executive mayimmediately recognize a particularly lucrative customer via a portletshowing a highlighted CRM metric, and then can instantly drill-down intothe system to find out, for example, what that customer bought, who thecompany sales person was for that customer, what their business termswere, and the like with a view toward extending this knowledge to gainother such lucrative customers or to increasing the lucrativeness ofother customers.

Whereas many alterations and modifications of the present invention willno doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art afterhaving read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that theparticular embodiments shown and described by way of illustration are inno way intended to be considered limiting. By way of example, althoughthe alert messages supra were described as being provided in electronicmail format readable by a computer or PDA, in other preferredembodiments the alert messages can be provided in voice mail format, bymp3-encoded e-mail file attachment, by singular postings to securebulletin boards or web pages, by secure video-based communication means,by secure satellite radio such as custom XM radio channels, or using anyof a variety of other messaging systems.

By way of further example, the preferred embodiments may be used tocommunicate metrics of interest that might not traditionally beassociated with ERP or CRM systems of a business enterprise, rangingfrom metrics of the financial performance of charities supported by thebusiness enterprise, to metrics of how many staff employees are stillusing their on-site terminals during the late afternoon hours, tometrics of how many off-intranet web sites are being accessed byemployees, or a variety of other items of interest.

By way of even further example, although described supra in terms ofbusiness-term nomenclatures, the features and advantages ofuser-specific or group-specific vernacular customization are extendibleto other scenarios, such as the takeover of a smaller company by alarger company. In this case, the vernacular customization feature canbe leveraged to keep the smaller company's name on the user interfacesfor their end users, even though they are actually communicating andinteracting with the integrated business system of the larger company.Therefore, reference to the details of the preferred embodiments are notintended to limit their scope, which is limited only by the scope of theclaims set forth below.

1. A method for displaying information derived from an integrated business system having at least one Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) module and at least one Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module, comprising: displaying a browser window to a user; and simultaneously displaying within said browser window a plurality of portlet windows, each portlet window occupying a relatively small area within said browser window, said portlet windows being selected and arranged according to a user profile for that user, said plurality of portlets comprising: a first reporting portlet displaying a first business result metric derived from at least one of said ERP and CRM-modules, said first reporting portlet further displaying a first report access link associated with said business result that, when selected by the user, invokes a display of underlying business data associated with said first business result metric; and a first application portlet comprising at least one application access link that, when selected by the user, invokes a browser-based interactive session with one of said ERP or CRM modules.
 2. The method of claim 1, said first business result metric being derived from said ERP module, said plurality of portlets further comprising a second reporting portlet displaying a second business result metric, said second business result metric being derived from said CRM module.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said integrated business system comprises each of the following ERP modules: accounting, order processing, time and billing, inventory management, employee management/payroll, and employee calendaring/collaboration.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said integrated business system comprises each of the following CRM modules: sales force automation (SPA), marketing automation, contact list, call center support, and web-based customer support.
 5. The method of claim 2, said user being associated with a business enterprise having an enterprise network, said integrated business system being hosted by an application service provider (ASP) remotely located with respect to any physical facilities of said business enterprise, said user accessing said integrated business system over the internet.
 6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: accessing said user profile associated with said user from the integrated business system, said user profile comprising a display mode preference associated with each of said first and second business result metrics indicating a selection of one of a text-based output format or a graphics-based output format; and displaying said first and second business result metrics according to their associated display mode preferences.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving portlet positioning preferences from the user indicating desired spatial arrangements of said plurality of portlets in said browser window for that user; storing said portlet positioning preferences in said user profile; and subsequent to said receiving portlet positioning preferences, displaying said first reporting portlet, said second reporting portlet, and said first application portlet according to said portlet positioning preferences.
 8. The method of claim 7, said plurality of portlets further comprising: a continuing search results portlet displaying results associated with a continuing search request; a user interface management portlet comprising at least one customization access link that, when selected by the user, invokes a browser-based interactive session acustomization module, said customization module receiving user preferences including said portlet positioning preferences and said continuing search request.
 9. The method of claim 8, said simultaneous display of portlets within said browser window being instantiated responsive to a home-page link selection from the user, further comprising refreshing said first business result metric, said second business result metric, and said continuing search result whenever said home-page link is selected, said refreshing including fetching up-to-date versions of said first business result metric, said second business result metric, and said continuing search result from said integrated business system.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising refreshing said first business result metric, said second business result metric, and said continuing search result at regular periodic intervals responsive to a desired update interval stored in said user profile.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: reading an e-mail alert preference from said user profile; and transmitting an electronic mail message from the integrated business system to an electronic mail account of the user according to said e-mail alert preference, said electronic mail message comprising at least said first and second business result metrics.
 12. The method of claim 11, said electronic mail message being formed from a markup language so as to emulate the appearance of said browser window upon user selection of the home-page link.
 13. The method of claim 11, said electronic mail message being a text-only message communicating said first and second business result metrics in a text-only format.
 14. The method of claim 13, said text-only electronic mail message comprising text sections sequentially ordered in a manner matching an order in which said portlet windows are arranged in said browser window according to said user-specific profile.
 15. The method of claim 7, further comprising: for each of said first and second business result metrics, acquiring an associated threshold value; storing said threshold value in said user profile; comparing each of said first and second business result metrics against their associated threshold value; and displaying any of said first and second business result metrics that are beyond their associated threshold value in a highlighted format within its respective portlet, thereby immediately informing the user that said business result metric is beyond its associated threshold without requiring affirmative inquiry from the user.
 16. The method of claim 2, said user being associated with a business enterprise having an enterprise network, further comprising: assigning the user a predefined role relevant to said business enterprise, said predefined role being selected from a plurality of predefined roles each having an associated default user profile associated therewith; setting said user profile for that user equal to the default user profile for said assigned predefined role; updating said user profile for that user according to customization commands received from the user.
 17. The method of claim 16, said user profile including a terminology map, said terminology map comprising: a plurality of static business terms fixedly associated with data records, transactions, or groups thereof within the integrated business system; for each of said static business terms, an associated vernacular equivalent customized to said user; wherein said vernacular equivalents are substituted for said static business terms in said browser window.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein said default user profile includes a default terminology map including vernacular equivalents relevant to said assigned predefined role.
 19. The method of claim 18, said plurality of static business terms including the term “estimate,” said plurality of predefined roles including accountant, CEO, and sales manager, wherein said vernacular equivalents of “estimate” are assigned as (i) “quote” for the CEO role, (ii) “quote” for the sales manager role, and (iii) “estimate” or NULL EQUIVALENT for the accountant role.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein said vernacular equivalents are customizable by the user.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said vernacular equivalents are further customizable based on other, non-role-based user groupings selected from the group consisting of language group, geography group, demographic group, and salary group. 22-51. (canceled) 